EditorialHello and welcome to the 65th 2DArtist! We hope you all had a great April. We definitely enjoyed it here in the UK, bank holidays left right and centre and a strategically placed Royal Wedding have given us a nice selection of days off to enjoy the sunny weather, and lap up the inspirational English countryside. This month’s magazine has to top the weather for inspiration however as we are full to the brim with outstanding content and jaw dropping tutorials!

We will kick off by this month by talking about this month’s cover image. Every different CG site and forum is full of artists that seem obsessed with one thing, Pin-ups! We have for a long time considered making a tutorial about Pin-up art but have been waiting for the right man for the job. Our patience has paid off and this month’s issue contains the first chapter in Serge Birault’s definitive guide to digital Pin-ups. Serge is a Pin-up legend and he starts the series by showing us how to design and paint a military character. Serge also gives us an insight into the way he paints by showing us how he builds up layers with an airbrush in different layer modes. This is a great series and we are very grateful to Serge for finding time in his schedule to do it for us.

The Art Fundamentals series has been great so far. Our elite artists have been demonstrating priceless tips to help us ensure our images cover all of the necessary bases. In this issue we are in the more than capable hands of David Smit. David talks us through creating the effect of depth in your image. David has a great way of explaining things and is an outstanding artist, you are going to love looking at his work and I am sure like me you will laugh your way through his tutorial.

David Nakayama has been nothing short of fantastic as he has talked us through our first guide to comic art. In this issue David wraps up his series by telling us how to add the color to our beautifully designed comic images. David’s advice is priceless as it has been throughout this series and we thank him for all of his help. In next month’s issue we move on to Painting Tribal Warriors!

Our realistic fantasy series has been throwing up a huge variety of tips and styles and this issue is no exception. Tiziano Baracchi talks us through how he created his realistic looking underwater alien.

Wow! I’m running out of space fast, I will use the little that’s left to tell you that it is well worth reading our interview with Daniel Clarke and checking out his diverse and unique portfolio. Also worth a peek is our sketchbook featuring cool character sketches by Daniele Montella and of course our making of by Tiago da Silva. The gallery is also filled with awesome works by the likes of Sergey Musin, Kashubo Ivan and Andreas Rocha just to name a few.

What a cool issue! I will leave you with a question that has just popped up in the office here at 3DTotal. Why is toilet roll scented? Any ideas? Let me know at [email protected]